Fianna Fail says the warning by the heads of four hospitals that patient safety could be serioudsly affected by further health cuts is a cause for serious concern.

Fianna Fáil Health Spokesperson Billy Kelleher TD has called on the Oireachtas Health Committee to urgently make time available to hear from the Chief Executives of the four hospitals who have written to the HSE Director General Tony O'Brien warning that cuts in funding and rising demands for patient services have begun to seriously threaten the quality and safety of patient services.

Deputy Kelleher said this intervention by the chief executives of four of the country's largest hospitals was a cause for very serious concern.

"By effectively warning about the ability of their hospitals to maintain patient safety, they have sounded a sinister alarm about the real state of our health services under James Reilly's leadership."

"My party and I have been making the case for the last two years that Minister Reilly is not fit for purpose. The confirmation by the management of four critically important hospitals that his decisions are now threatening basic safety and services is quite extraordinary and we need to hear in full the exact nature of the threat and what is needed to mitigate it."

Hospitals say cuts threaten patients